Braids And Plaits
by InuXKags
Summary: Every day is the same. Put my hair in braids, talk to no one at school, not be loved. And yet, here I am, head over heels in love with the most popular guy at school.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.**

**Author's Note: Hello, again, everyone! Here's another idea that I've come up with out of nowhere. Some of you have been wondering about what happened to my other stories, especially Silverlake Boarding School and Summer Sweetheart. Sorry for not updating. If you want to know why I won't update certain stories, it should be explained in my profile. Now, I'm going to say this once again: PLEASE TAKE MY POLL!! (Oh, and review if you like this story, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!!)**

**Cute Or Ugly**

_My heart is pounding like crazy. I can't make it stop. It just feels so . . . Weird. I'm usually not so nervous, but, heck, today is my first day in high school. I'm an average high school girl who gets nervous, just like most of the other girls who wake up at four-thirty in the morning to get ready, right?_

She set her curling iron down on her dresser as she sprayed a fog of hairspray all over her fresh black ringlets. The fifteen year old girl stood up from her desk chair and fixed her forest green school uniform once more.

_Okay, calm down, girl. This is normal anxiety attacks everybody feels on that first day. But it'll be fine. I'll meet great people and fall in love. No worries._

"I'm done," Kagome declared. She casually posed to the mirror on her dresser. "I look so cute!" Then, she paused. The schoolgirl scrutinized herself more closely. "AGH, this hairstyle doesn't suit me!!" She furiously rustled her once-beautiful curls until it looked like a bed head.

_This is hopeless! No matter how close I am to appreciating a certain hairstyle, I can never get myself to love it. I'll never be cute!_

Kagome pouted soundlessly as she tied her ebony hair into two braids that fell over her shoulders down to her abdomen. This hairdo was a cinch to her, one that could be done so easily that she could do it in her sleep.

"As usual, I feel better like this," Kagome sighed. She checked her mirror once more. Her reflection looked so plain, so uniform. Every day, she always wore her hair in ordinary braids. She wished she had lovely hair like her little sister, Rin. Speaking of Rin . . .

"KAGOME!!" Rin screamed as she burst through Kagome's bedroom door.

"Rin!" Kagome shouted in return. "Knock before you open the door and give me a freaking heart attack! Got it?!"

"I know, I know! I'm sorry! But I have a major hair crisis! Look at it!" Rin pointed to her bed head. She must've woken up late. Today was her first day of seventh grade, so it wasn't as much as a big deal as high school was.

"Okay, sit down," Kagome said. Rin complied without a complaint. Kagome picked up her little sister's thin black hair and started combing it.

Rin stared at their reflections in the mirror nailed upon the dresser. "Kagome, you're not going to school like that, are you?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, your hair is once again in braids. It looks kind of like the pictures in my textbook, like the people during wartime! And it's not exactly wartime right now. You tell me that you want a boyfriend, but do you really expect to get one looking like a maiden from the 1800's every day?"

Kagome gaped at her sister in shock. She shrugged it off and continued combing. "Then I won't go out with someone who judges me by my looks."

Rin scoffed. "That's what all the nerdy girls say," she muttered.

"Rin, if you say that again, I swear you'll be kicked so hard, you'll hit China."

"Sorry, Kagome."

_I really tried to make my hair pretty today, but it just didn't suit me. It didn't feel right. It was like walking to school in jeans and a spaghetti-strap shirt with flip flops. That's why my braids are my last resort._

Kagome focused her attention on finishing her little sister's hair. She decided to go with a quick, yet elegant, look. Kagome put up Rin's hair into an stylish bun with some loose strands framing her round face.

"Okay, it's done," Kagome said, resting her hands on her sister's shoulders.

Rin gazed at her reflection. "Oh my gosh, I love it!" Rin glanced at Kagome's alarm clock and stood up from the chair. "Well, I got to go. Thanks a lot, Kagome!" Seeing her big sister's slightly dejected expression, she added a comment she thought would cheer her sibling up. "By the way, all of my friends are always saying how much they like my hair. Thanks a lot for doing my hair! See you later!" Rin disappeared out the door faster than a blink of an eye.

Kagome smiled at the compliment. She seated herself on her spongy bed and gazed out the window. She tugged lightly on one of her neat braids as she took in the sight of the beautiful morning in Tokyo.

_It's funny how I'm so skilled at making people's hair, and yet I can't seem to love my own hair. It's so thick and you can't do much with it. When I make Rin's hair in the mornings, I always somehow end up being happy._

Kagome spots Rin and her new boyfriend, Shippo, walking together hand in hand down the sidewalk to their middle school. They were laughing. Rin must've tripped over a crack in the pavement, being her usual clumsy self.

_They look so adorable together. They're only 13, and they've already grown to love one another. Sometimes . . . I wish I fell in love. I long for it, but . . ._

Her blue eyes drifted to her bedside table where her alarm clock lay.

"CRAP, I'M LATE!!" she yelled. She suffered from mental regret as she pulled on her white knee-length socks and russet-colored shoes. Just as she slipped her arms through the straps of her black backpack, she remembered something very essential.

"My ribbon!" she said. The panicking schoolgirl spotted her cherry red ribbon laying on her dresser. She snatched it and carefully tied it around her neck. The red ribbon was required to be worn in school. Without it, the school wouldn't allow you to enter the front doors.

Kagome trotted down the stairs. "Bye, Mom!" she called. "I'm leaving!" She could faintly hear the soft whisper of her mother call back to be safe. Kagome slid the glass door shut and inhaled the fresh air. The outdoors smelled so good after being locked up inside your room for many hours.

Kagome started to walk to her school, thinking. Deep in her heart, Kagome was hoping to find love at first sight.

_Yeah right. That only happens in fairy tales._

*~*~*

Kagome nervously entered the front doors, twirling one of her braids around her fingers. She knew absolutely nobody in the school. The students were all chatting and laughing, catching up with each other since their short summers.

Kagome made her way through the crowd to find her first class. She had five minutes until class started, so she might as well spend it exploring the school in search of her math class.

_Jeez, does nobody like braids anymore? I mean, sure it looks old-fashioned, but it's better than burning your hair to a crisp every morning. I guess Rin's right. I probably won't get a boyfriend looking like a milkmaid._

Just as Kagome reached up to undo one of her plaits, another thought hit her.

_But I never feel comfortable with my hair down . . . AAAAAGH!! Why can't I have normal, beautiful hair like all the other girls here?_

Kagome managed to find her math class. She looked up at the number so that she could write it down on her schedule for future reference. Room 360.

_Are there seriously 360 classrooms in this damn school?! I mean, I know it's a fairly large school, but, come on, 360 rooms!_

She looked to her right. Room 362.

_WHAT?! There's more?! Great, I'm doomed. Now I know how a mouse feels in a maze. Okay, I have to stop being a wimp. I can handle this. I'll just pretend I'm a mouse on steroids!_

A sweat drop formed on her forehead.

_Okay, maybe that's too much pep talk for me . . ._

Kagome stepped into the classroom and surveyed her classmates. Her stormy sapphire gaze landed on a boy. Her heart pulsated in her chest as she felt her cheeks go warm. She'd never felt this way. Kagome had read this sort of feeling in romance books. Wasn't this how the author described the physical effects of seeing someone they love?

This sensation could only mean one thing.

_I think I'm in love . . ._


End file.
